French firm charged in US with Islamic State group payments

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for October 18

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

French cement company Lafarge pleaded guilty Tuesday to paying $17 million to the Islamic State group so that a plant in Syria could remain open, a case that the Justice Department described as the first of its kind.

The company agreed to pay criminal fines of roughly $91 million and forfeit an additional $687 million for a total penalty of roughly $778 million.

Prosecutors accused the company of turning a blind eye to the conduct of the militant group, paying to it at a time when it was involved in torturing kidnapped Westerners.

ISIS OPERATIVE IN SYRIA KILLED IN US SPECIAL OPERATIONS RAID

A site of cement maker Lafarge is pictured in Paris, Nov. 14, 2017. Lafarge has pleaded guilty to paying $17 million to the Islamic State group so that a plant in Syria could remain open, in a case the Justice Department describes as the first of its kind. The charges were announced Tuesday in federal court in New York City. The allegations involve conduct that was earlier investigated by authorities in France.  (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

"The defendants routed nearly six million dollars in illicit payments to two of the world’s most notorious terrorist organizations — ISIS and al-Nusrah Front in Syria — at a time those groups were brutalizing innocent civilians in Syria and actively plotting to harm Americans," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said in a statement.

ISIS IS THREAT TO ENTIRE HUMAN RACE, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS IN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

"There is simply no justification for a multi-national corporation authorizing payments to designated terrorist organization," he added.

A logo of Lafarge, the world's largest cement maker, is pictured outside of a facility, in Paris,  Sept. 8, 2017.  Lafarge has pleaded guilty to paying $17 million to the Islamic State group so that a plant in Syria could remain open, in a case the Justice Department describes as the first of its kind. The charges were announced Tuesday in federal court in New York City. The allegations involve conduct that was earlier investigated by authorities in France.   (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

The charges were announced by federal prosecutors in New York City and by senior Justice Department leaders from Washington.

The allegations involve conduct that was earlier investigated by authorities in France.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Islamic State group is abbreviated as IS and has been referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.